Have you ever been attacked by a goose while having a picnic in the park? Geese are animals that have the ultimate power to ruin any picnic. These prodigious poopers have taken over most parks, especially in the summers.
A goose is one of the few birds with a serrated tongue and the audacity to chase you out of your garden and get your rake in the lake. Geese are one of the most feared animals. However, geese are also birds where opinions and experiences vary so wildly, especially when it comes to keeping them on the farm.
Some people dislike geese, whereas others adore them. When it comes to the pros of owning geese, most people purchase geese as the ultimate poultry guardian for their free-ranging birds. If you keep adult geese on your farm, you will notice a significant decrease in potential predator attacks on farms.
While geese might not entirely eliminate potential predators, you are more likely to witness a significant decrease.
Here are some other potential benefits of keeping geese on your farm:
Effective against Wildlife
You will find geese most effective against wildlife that prefer to be unnoticed and in the quiet. We are talking about deers, raccoons, and foxes. If you keep geese on your property, you will see them act as the geese police as they will break up fights between drakes and roosters.
That said, geese would hardly stand a chance against a giant predator, such as a random dog or a coyote, so the geese will also rely on you for a little bit of protection, especially at night.
Easy Housing Requirements
When it comes to the housing requirements of geese, you will find them much easier than a duck or chicken. Since geese will chase off the smaller predators, you can keep them inside an open-top net fence. However, the requirements may vary from one region to another.
Also, you can keep the geese in a traditional chicken coop until they reach their full adult size. The chicken coop will provide them protection from predators as a raccoon will go after a gosling. Besides, the shelter requirements are also very easy because geese simply refuse to use any type of shelter.
Easy Shelter Setup
It doesn’t matter what weather conditions the geese are in – it might be a blizzard, a thunderstorm, and even if it is hailing, you will find the geese simply refusing to go in any type of enclosure. The geese will certainly use a small shelter to build their nest and lay their eggs in – but other than this, they will refuse to go in.
As a geese owner or keeper, you will find their setup very easy.
Simple Diet Needs
Another potential benefit of keeping geese on your farm is that the major part of their diet is simple grass. And the only time of the year where you might feel the need to supplement them with the grain is during the winter.
In fact, geese are such good grazers that if you had a little lawn area that you don’t want to bother mowing with – instead of putting sheep and goats out there where you don’t have to feed them hay or worry about warming them (which can get very costly) – it is recommended to let some geese out there.
Good for Breeding
Another great benefit of keeping geese on your farm from a financial perspective is how easily their goslings sell. This means that you can sell all their siblings that you don’t want to keep. From all types of poultry that you might want to sell, you will find the goslings selling the easiest.
That said, if you are looking for something to breed and perhaps recoup some of the potential costs for the grain that you spend on them over the winter season, geese are certainly the way to go.
Geese Can be Funny
If you are an animal lover, you will find another potential benefit of keeping geese on your farm regarding how funny they can be. Each goose has its personality, and their personalities can vary wildly – only geese lovers and geese keepers will know.
This aspect is also the primary reason people have different opinions on geese – it depends on whether one ends up with a sweet one or a complete jerk. If you raise the geese from a gosling, they can be very dog-like.
Easy Manageability
Another potential benefit of owning and breeding geese is that they are just easier to manage than other poultry. For instance, compared to chickens, the geese are overall less flighty. They are easy to direct if you walk behind them as they will just walk wherever you are directing them.
You can also teach them to come to you whenever they are called by using treats. Geese are very smart birds, so you can train them to listen to your commands and come to you when you call them out – even when they are on the pond.
Potential Downsides of Owning Geese
It is important to mention here that geese act as guardians in various ways. While geese might alert the other birds about oncoming danger, they will also physically chase off potential predators, which explains why geese are annoying when they visit your yard uninvited, which happens in the case of the Canada goose.
While you can benefit from the flight Control geese spray and save yourself from aggressive Canadian geese, you ought to know that the Canadian geese are specifically hostile during their nesting season. Suppose you get attacked by a goose; you must know self-defense.
You must never turn away from the bird. Instead, make it a priority to face the bird but slowly remove yourself from its territory. The geese can fly faster than one can run, so if you find geese on your property – some random morning, refrain from taking matters into your hands. Rather, get professional help and remove the geese from your property.
As mentioned before, geese produce an astronomical amount of poop, and the goose poop doesn’t come out easily at all. Another potential thing about the goose poop is that if you have a dog on your farm, there is a great chance that he will love it.
When it comes to the mess that these birds create, you should know about the crazy amount of feathers that these birds shed. It might look like a massacre occurred in your yard. Kind of linked with their messiness is also the destructiveness of the geese.
Whether you want them or not – geese will prune your trees and shrubs, especially the peach trees. Geese can be very messy and destructive.